


Don't Fuck With My Vampire Boyfriend

by ShutUrFuck



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Adam (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, I love you all for actually reading this uwu, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Kinda, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Dork, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, POV Alternating, Prophecy, Prophetic Dreams, first fic, idk if the Allura/Lotor thing will happen or not it was an idea a friend gave me but we'll see, love you all and hope you enjoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 21:50:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18786919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShutUrFuck/pseuds/ShutUrFuck
Summary: Lance and the Gang™ decide to go on their weekly adventure to a haunted house to prove whether the supernatural exist. But Lance gets a little lost after wandering off and finds himself in a very unexpected situation, which spirals into something much more.Or: they adventure a house and Lance meets Keith, woohoo adventure





	Don't Fuck With My Vampire Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty there folks, I hope your day has been amazing so far.  
> This is actually the first thing I've ever written and published, so if it's bad and has some inconsistent things don't be surprised because I'm horrible at this and it's my first time. If you do choose to read this then I really hope you like it because I worked pretty darn hard on it.  
> Note: this is also like 90% based off of Skyrim so have fun and hope you like it 😎
> 
> Edit: I changed some things because (like previously mentioned) this is my first time publishing something and I had no clue how to format, but now it's fine! You will now probably notice the disgusting amount of italics lmao

“LANCE!” 

“Come on, Lance!” 

“Lance, come on or we'll leave you!” 

“Lance, hurry your dumbass up!” 

Lance is hurrying his dumbass up. But trying to put on your jacket and backpack at the same time is harder than it sounds.

“Wait, don't leave! I'm coming!” He yells as he finally makes it to the open doors of the minivan. There, Pidge and Hunk are waiting for him, along with Coran and Allura in the front seats. 

“Sorry sorry, I was grabbing my stuff.” Lance explains, climbing into the very back seat with Hunk and setting his backpack in his lap. 

He sighs as he buckles himself in and rests his head back on the headrest. Today's been a tough morning. He overslept and had only a few minutes to get ready and eat breakfast. Pidge turns around in her seat and glares at him. “You do this every time we want to go somewhere. What could you possibly need that takes ten minutes to pack.”

Lance honestly doesn't know the answer to that himself. He usually packs snacks, but Hunk already comes prepared enough as it is with those. He also packs himself a flashlight, which is useful, and a portable charger. But mostly whatever he packs is already what the other's have also already packed.

“I dunno,” he answers with a shrug. “I mean, I have goldfish.” For proof, he pulls out a little baggie of goldfish. 

“Dude, I already have snacks.” Hunk says from next to him. 

“Yeah, well, do you have goldfish?” Lance asks with an accusatory glare. Hunk opens his mouth to answer, closes it, and looks away sheepishly. 

“Hah, see! That's what I thought!” Lance says. But he flashes Hunk a bright smile. Hunk smiles back with a roll of his eyes.

“Alrighty children!” Coran announces from the driver's seat. “Are we all buckled in?” 

When they all voice their responses, Coran finally pulls out of Lance's apartment complex's parking lot. It was their usual routine, getting everyone, waiting on Lance, then finally embarking on their destination. 

And today, it was to the old abandoned house on Arus street. 

Their weekly thing was to always get together and go out on an adventure at some haunted or abandoned place. Pidge does all the research beforehand, Coran drives, and they all go out and have fun. But get scared shitless in the process. See, haunted places are fun, but with friends like Hunk and Lance who scream at nearly anything and always find themselves wandering off from the others, it just makes it more interesting. And adds some level of nuisance. Especially since the houses aren't filled with people in costumes and decorated to look scary. These are actual _haunted_ places. And Lance and his gang of friends intend on looking for all the ghosts and spirits and shit, and investigate whatever may have happened to the inhabitants.

As the car ride went on, they talked among each other as to not sit in awkward silence the whole ride. The ride wasn't too long, only about twenty to thirty minutes depending on traffic. But, it being a weekend, traffic was a little heavy.

“So Lance,” Allura says, turning more in her seat to better talk to the others. “How have you and Nyma been? You haven't spoken about her for a few days.” She asks. 

Lance stiffens, the smile on his face from his and Hunk's conversation turning a little forced. Lately he didn't like talking about Nyma. She didn't give him that “feeling” anymore. They didn't click together as a couple. There was no appeal anymore.

“Yeah bud, it's been awhile since you brought her up.” Hunk says, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Lance only stiffens more though, and he scratches the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle. 

“Uuh about that. We kind of... um… broke up, last night.” He answers finally, and looks up to the others. 

“About time.” Pidge says, like it totally isn't a big fucking deal. And damn, Lance actually expected a reaction from Pidge. Wow. He really _doesn't_ know her. And he also seems to have forgotten the fact that Pidge herself noticed the former couple didn't go well together and encouraged a breakup for a while.

Allura nods, agreeing with Pidge's statement. “She was an awful cunt.” She sighs, and lowers her head in sympathy. Or pity. Lance doesn't know. Feels bad that she would pity him.

Hunk also nods. Wow everyone's shitting on Nyma now, apparently. Whatever, bitch deserves it. Hindsight is 20/20, Nyma's an asshole. Hunk pats Lance's shoulder and gives him a smile. “She was pretty bad to you. But hey, at least you can get any girls you want now!” He says.

“Or boys!” Coran says from the driver's seat. Lance is grateful for the reassurance, it feels better to hear the truth, actually. To know he wasn't alone in feeling she wasn't the right one for him.

Lance chuckles and gives all his friends a grateful smile. “Thanks guys. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner.” He says.

Then Lance sighs in shame, overly dramatic of course, and puts the back of his hand to his head as he leans heavily against Hunk. “But alas, Hunk, I'm a twenty five year old man and my thirst for love is,” he sniffles, loudly. “Unquenched.” 

Hunk rolls his eyes fondly and nudges Lance in the arm with his elbow. “Calm down, buddy. You're young. You'll find someone eventually.” He assures. Lance sighs again and shifts so he's side-hugging him. “I guess that's true.” 

“Lance,” Allura starts, turning further in her seat to the two. “Might I ask where Adam is? Why didn't he come this time?” She asks. This makes Pidge raise an eyebrow, apparently now noticing the absence of the man in question. “Yeah, where is Adam?” 

Lance shrugs, shoulders slumping downward in clear disappointment. He and Hunk had already stopped hugging by now. “I think he said something about work calling him in early, or something.” He answers. 

“It's a shame too, I was hoping to talk more shit on you guys in Spanish right in front of you.” Lance complains with a deep frown etching onto his face. And you can't blame him for being at least a little disappointed, it's simply how he and Adam bond and how they became friends in the first place. He and Adam first met in college. They had the same Public Speaking class and sat next to each other. Soon they became friends and Lance introduced him to the rest of the gang. Plus, they remind each other of their homes. Lance misses Cuba, and Adam Mexico, so them talking their native language to each other helps bring that sense of familiarity back. 

Pidge sends him a grin from over her shoulder. “Come on, you both love us.” She says. Lance sighs and nods defeatedly. “I guess I do.” 

“Okay everyone, looks like we're here.” Coran says, and they all immediately turn to look out their windows. Lance nearly on top of Hunk to look past him and out the window. There, before them, is the old abandoned house on Arus street, basically what they've decided on naming it. It has an actual name, but they all thought “The Westbalperdook House” both sounded very long to say and ridiculous.

The house is big, bigger than a normal middle class house and more for richer people. It's incredibly worn down too. Vines hanging off the roof and travelling down the walls. Windows shattered with worn down sills. The door is ominously wide open, like it's expecting them. The trees and bushes scattered across the lawn all dead and giving the house an even more creepy feeling. No one has been in the house for years, decades probably. And everyone who thinks about venturing in there turns the idea down once they see it. It reminds Lance a lot of the house from Monster House. 

The houses legend is also pretty disturbing. Years ago, 1924 to be exact, a man, Jacob Westbalperdook (weird name), and his wife, Alice, lived happily in West Virginia for a few years. They had a child and named it Sam. Months after their child was born, it died of a heavy fever. Jacob and Alice were torn apart with grief, then, in 1927, two years after their child died, Alice committed suicide. Jacob, whilst being completely overwhelmed with grief started having odd occurrences happen in the current house he lived in. Things would start moving without him moving them, the lights would be turned on even when he remembers turning them off, and he'd hear noises, mostly at night, along with voices and whispers next to his bed. Jacob left the state, moving to Arizona to hopefully start a new life. But whatever was in his last house came with him. After he moved in in 1933, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his back yard. Most say the family's spirits still haunt the house to this day. 

So, of course, the gang wanted to see if these allegations of spirits haunting the house are true or not.

Coran pulls up to the side of the road, and they all just kind of sit there, taking the house in. They haven't even left the car yet and Lance is already feeling anxious. Ghosts do that to you. Then they exit the minivan, grab their backpacks and flashlights and other stuff, and they go up the lawn to the patio. 

The patio isn't that welcoming either. It's all worn down wood, creaking with every step they take. Coran is the one who turns on his flashlight and enters the house first. He's usually the one to do that, since he and Allura are the only people who don't usually get scared as much over this stuff.

They all file in after him, after Coran goes Allura, then Pidge, Lance, and finally Hunk, who looks the most scared of all of them. Again, it's a usual thing. Hunk gets jumpscared easily, Lance does too. Pidge isn't as bad as the two of them but still gets scared, same goes for Allura. Coran just makes comments and laughs it off. 

Pidge flashes her light all around the walls, the curiosity very evident on her face. Her eyes are lit up, taking in the very creepy atmosphere almost enthusiastically. 

Once they're all inside, the door slams behind them. Hunk screams, which causes a chain reaction of Lance nearly fucking dying and tripping over his feet and falling, Pidge jumping seventeen feet in the air, and Allura crying out and climbing on top of Coran, yelling something about Satan. Coran flashes his light at the door and points it down when he finds nothing’s there. “Relax, everyone! It was probably just a breeze.” He says, and that gets everyone a little back into a sane headspace. 

Hunk helps Lance off the ground and Pidge fixes her glasses. Allura gets off of Coran and they head further into the house.

The wood flooring creaks beneath them as they walk around, Pidge wandering slightly away from the group to marvel at the old, dusty furniture. 

“Wow… no one's been in here for years.” Pidge mutters, wiping her finger across a very dusty table. 

“Careful where you step, there could be loose floorboards.” Coran says. As if on cue, Lance trips over one and falls to the ground with a soft “oomph”

“Told you.” Coran chuckles.

Lance lifts his head and clambers back up to his feet with Hunk's help. He's always there whenever he falls it seems. Lance looks down at his jacket and grimaces, dust covering the whole front. “Gross, there's dust all over me now!” He says, trying, futilely, to wipe some of it off. 

Hunk opens his mouth to say something, probably about him having wipes or something, the damn prepared bastard, but he's cut off but a loud _bang_ coming from another room. He startles and hugs himself with a whimper. “Guys, I don't know about this place. It's different from the other's.” He says. 

Pidge sighs and looks up from inspecting furniture. “You say that about every house we go to.” She says. Hunk frowns at her. “Well, um, that's because they're all scary.” 

Lance laughs and pat's Hunk on the arm with a dust-covered hand. “It's okay bud, I feel your pain.”

“Let's keep moving. We still have a lot to explore.” Coran says, and continues onwards. Allura stays by his side the whole time. Probably a good idea, Lance thinks, Coran is wise and strong and careful, he seems like the perfect person to go to a haunted house with. No offense to Hunk, but he'd rather have Coran's protection anyday. 

Lance lingers back behind the other's as they start up the stairs. He wants to get a look at the first floor first. He goes into the room next to the living room, the kitchen he guesses, and looks around. The lights obviously won't work, so he doesn't bother flipping those on. As he's looking around he notices another hallway leading out off the kitchen and into some endless void if darkness. 

As Lance gets closer to the void-hallway he hears the other's start to call his name. But he ignores that right now, he wants to see where the hallways leads to first.

He steps into the hallway, and it becomes more clear and easier to see in, but it still looks endless. It's small too, so he watches his step as he makes his way down the hall. He passes the occasional piece of furniture and photographs on the walls. They all seem to be of the Westbalperdook family. He can see pictures of the wife and baby, but none of the man.

Eventually Lance reaches a room, and the window doesn't have any blinds or anything so the afternoon sunlight streams into the room, the only one with light in the house probably. But that's not the most interesting part. In the center is this hole. Yeah, just a hole. But it, like the hallway, looks infinite. It's a pretty wide hole too, but he has no clue as to why it would be in the middle of the room. 

Lance points his flashlight down the hole. He can't see the bottom, so it must be pretty deep. He grabs a rock, which is suspiciously about the size as the hole in the window, and drops it. He listens for any impact noise, but none comes. Except, after about three seconds, a splash sounded at the bottom. Ah, so deep big hole in the middle of a room in an abandoned house. Not suspicious at all. 

He gets closer to the edge and leans forward, wary of losing his balance. That is, until the others come in. 

“Lance, what are–” 

Lance startles, causing him to lose his balance. He turns around and tries to stand up straight again, but he slips, and Hunk's hand is just barely out of reach. He falls, cries and screams bouncing against the walls of the hole, echoing through the whole house as he plummets down, down, down…

Lance hits his head on his way down, everything getting more and more blurry and fuzzy. He falls and falls. It's only been not even two seconds but it feels like forever.

Falls. Falls. Falls.

_Splash_

He hits water. The air is knocked out of him, his back and body sting. 

Oh right. _Water_. 

And also, he may or may not need to breathe.

Lance uses all his remaining strength to swim up to the surface, once he breaks it he coughs the water from his lungs and gasps for breath and _oh god he swallowed the gross old hole water–_

“Lance!!!” 

“Lance can you hear us!” 

“Lance!” 

He coughs out the rest of the water and tries not to throw the fuck up right then and there. He looks up, and he can just barely see the light streaming in from the room combined with his friend's flashlights. 

“Yeah, I'm fine!” Lance calls back to them. Though he's not sure that statement is entirely true. 

He can hear them voicing their relief, when Coran's voice comes booming down onto him, not helping his aching head. “Lance, stay there my boy! We'll get you out of there!” 

Lance nods, but the action is useless since they can't see him. “Alright!” He shouts instead. He looks around and can see a ledge he can swim to, so he does just that. He hoists himself up and then proceeds to throw up his breakfast and then some. 

He coughs out whatever disgusting liquid is left in his mouth and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He takes a moment to collect himself and check his body for any possible injuries. His head hurts, only mildly and his vision seems to be fine even given the darkness around him, and he only seems to have a mild headache. He might not be concussed, he didn't hit his head that hard, but until he gets out of here he won't know.

Lance sees his backpack in the water and grabs it, grimacing when he sees how soaked it is. He digs his phone out of his pocket and powers it on and thank god for waterproof cases.

He turns his flashlight on and there, behind him, is a dark tunnel. Lance flashes his light down it and can see a door that presumably leads to a room. Or even better, a way out of here. 

“Guys I found a door!” Lance shouts up to his friends, eyes still trained on the tunnel. 

He can't hear their reply, doesn't even know if they heard him or not, but it doesn't matter, he might have just found a way out. And their help won't arrive for a while. He thinks 'fuck it’ in a voice that peculiarly sounds like Pidge and stands, puts on his backpack, then begins down the tunnel.

It's dark, but not as dark as the seemingly endless hallway from earlier. It's not wide but it isn't small either. Smaller than he thought it would've been but still. He makes it up to the door and tries turning the knob. Doesn't work. 

He tries again.

Doesn't work.

“Shit….” He mutters, and rears back to kick down the door. He kicks, hard, hurts his foot in the process, and the door bursts open. 

He flashes his light inside and–

Woah… 

_Woah_.

This is not what he was expecting. 

It's a room. A _huge_ room. And in the middle is one pedestal with something that kind of looks like a button. There's no lights, leaving the room dark except for the parts his phones flashlight is able to reveal. There are pillars surrounding the middle, forming a big circle around the pedestal, all of which have inscriptions in some language he doesn't recognize. He carefully makes his way inside, and towards the center. 

It looks very ominous, to say the least. He reaches the “button” and goes to put his hand on it, but pauses. He gives the room another quick once over before turning back to the button and hesitantly pressing his hand down on it. 

And nope, that was _not_ a button. 

Something stabs his hand, so he yelps and retracts it before it can hurt his hand any more. But too late, he guesses, whatever poked him broke skin and blood was trickling down his hand, to his wrist, and under his sleeve. 

Lance hisses at the slight pain but then the “button” starts glowing, activating something that makes the inscripted pillars move. Then rings across the floor start glowing a deep purple beneath him, and he stumbles back. The floor starts to sink, centered around the pedestal. As the floor sinks it shows there's something under the pedestal. He stares in awe, but also terror because _what the fuck is going on?_

The ground sinking around the pedestal reveals a box beneath it. A big, human sized box. Is it a box? Lance doesn't know, it's big enough for a person and he's scared. But it seems to be made of stone, something written on it in the same language as the pillar writing.

Whatever. The box thing slowly becomes more into view as the ground sinks lower and lower. Then it all stops. 

Lance waits, his heart nearly beating out of his chest with how fast and hard it's thrumming. He steps towards the box thing, and just as he gets close it opens, the front sliding down to reveal a young man, about his age, seemingly asleep. 

He falls forwards, and Lance has a split second decision to catch him or back away. He chooses to catch him since he isn't an asshole.

The mystery boy falls into his arms and groans, stirred from his sleep. Was he sleeping? Or was he unconscious or something? Lance will just have to save those questions for later. 

The boy opens his eyes and looks up, meeting Lance's eyes. There's… something about his eyes that slightly put Lance on edge. Then the boy shoves him away as if he's been burned and Lance is just surprised. 

“Uh–”

“Who the fuck are you.” The boy's question isn't even a question. It's a demand. And Lance fears if he doesn't answer he'll do something about it.

Lance throws his hands up and takes a step back, giving the boy space. “Woah woah woah, hang on, who the fuck are _you_?” He asks. 

“That's none of your concern,” boy answers, and before Lance can stutter a response, he continues, “Is anyone with you?” 

“Well, I mean, my friends are here but they aren't _here_ right now.” Lance says looking the boy up and down. Now that he isn't in his arms he can get a good look at him. His hair is long and jet-black, and made into a braid slung over his left shoulder. His eyes are violet purple, but with a hint of grey in them. His eyes are pretty, Lance's mind helpfully observes. A large scar runs down the side of his face, from under his right eye to his jaw, then reaching further down his neck until it's disappearing over his shoulder and underneath his shirt. Lance wonders how far down his back it goes. Pointed ears too. Little weird, but some people are like that. He's wearing odd clothing, _very_ odd. Almost medieval or Victorian, and it's weirdly very clean. Except for a few red stains that is.

Wait.

Why would he have blood on his clothing? 

“Wait, are you…” Lance trails off, lips pursing as he tries to put two and two together. “Are you in a vampire cosplay or something?” 

Lance is the kind of person who believes in the supernatural. He, to some extent, also believes that magic could exist. And that some things can't be explained by science. Pidge disagrees about the science thing, but hey, after all the encounters with ghosts and weird things over the years, you really can't blame him. But _vampires_ can't actually be real, can they?

The boy furrows his eyebrows in clear confusion, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly. “What's a cosplay?” 

Now it's Lance's turn to be confused. He narrows his eyes at the boy and steps closer until he's right in the boy's face. The boy scowls and tries to back away but Lance follows after him. He can see the fangs of the boy clearly. And either they're really really good fake fangs, or they're real.

“You're not actually in a cosplay, are you?” Lance asks softly, finally giving the boy his space back as a bunch of nervous thoughts run through his mind. 

None of this makes sense. But when he thinks about it, it all does. The weird crypt and coffin thing, the blood on the boy's clothes, fangs, pale skin, pointed ears that don't look at all fake.

The boy sighs, like he's been found out. No more hiding. Lance figured things out and he has nowhere to go.

“Yeah. I'm a vampire.” He says quietly. He looks down at his feet, scowl still fixed on his face.

Lance is quiet for a few seconds, absorbing all the information and processing it slowly. His lips are parted as he glares at the floor. “A vampire,” he whispers. Then his eyebrows shoot upwards and he looks back to the boy. “Like, an actual vampire?”

The boy sighs again and looks up at Lance with a very unamused and slightly irritated face. “I just told you, yes.”

Lance nods and they stay in awkward silence for a few moments. Lance looks around the room while the boy just kind of stands there, shuffling his feet as he stares at them.

Lance considers the situation he's found himself in. He's stuck in a large room with a likely dangerous vampire standing in front of him. Sure, he doesn't look that dangerous, but the teeth and blood and large scar says otherwise. 

The more he thinks about it the more logical it seems to just run away and leave someone else to deal with this. Because who the fuck wants to deal with a vampire? A real-life _vampire_. 

So he makes a decision. He mentally prepared himself for bolting out the door and out the room, leaving the mysterious vampire boy to be someone else's problem. 

The boy opens his mouth to say something but Lance cuts him off by turning around and full on booking it to the door of the room, but before he could get very far the boy tackles him to the ground and tries to hold him down. 

And damn, his grip is _strong_.

The boy straddles on Lance's waist and grabs his arm, pinning it behind him and using his other hand to pin Lance's other wrist to the floor. 

Lance thrashes underneath him, trying to get the boy off his back, but his efforts are futile. The boy's grip is strong, really strong, and it doesn't look like Lance his getting out of this.

Eventually Lance stops because he knows there's practically no point anymore, the boy would have killed him by now if he wanted. The boy's death grip tightens ever so slightly, his awkward demeanor changing into something threatening. “Don't think you ever told me your name, now speak up or I'll break your damn arm.” he demands.

“My name is Lance,” he answers, hoping against hope the boy doesn't notice the quivering or obvious fear in his voice. “Me and my friends came here to explore the house. Don't-don't break my arm please.” 

The boy pauses, then the death grip returns and Lance winces. “What year is it?” He asks. 

“2019.” Lance says, cautiously, voice strained from the pain of the angle his arm is being held in. 

“2019…” The boy repeats the number in a whisper, and for a second he pauses again. Then he lets go, and Lance lets out a sigh of relief. But before he can stand he's being pulled up off the floor from his jacket collar. 

He's up on his feet and so is the boy, who grabs Lance by the jacket and forces him to face him. The boy glances over Lance's shoulder at the door, which had closed during some point of their time down here. He looks back to Lance with those piercing, violet-grey eyes.

“We need to get out of here.” The boy says, as if that isn't obvious. 

“Well I was _going_ to–” 

The boy cuts Lance off with a shake of his head, those piercing eyes looking right through Lance's skull. “Can't let you go. You know too much.” 

Lance sighs through his nose. He figured as much. Doubted the vampire would ever let him leave knowing his secret. “If you must, we can just leave through the door–”

“No. Your friends are up there, I know it. We can't run into anyone or bring any attention to us.” He cuts him off again, loosening his tight hold on Lance's jacket. 

Lance looks at him with an eyebrow quirked. As if they aren't going to draw attention with him looking like that. “Wait, we?” He repeats. Hell no, he isn't running away with some dangerous vampire dude–

The boy looks at him with narrowed eyes for a moment. “Yes, _we_.” He says. He lets go of Lance's jacket and trails his hand down to his forearm instead. He looks down at Lance's hand, which is still bloody from being lightly stabbed. The boy's eyes turn slightly hungry, and his hand goes down to grab Lance's wrist.

“Hey,” Lance interrupts his thoughts, and those purple eyes glance back up at him. “I would, uhm, appreciate it if you didn't eat my hand.” 

The boy scowls at him, and brings his hand up a little. “I'm not going to eat your hand. I'm just…” he trails, off looking at the blood trail going down Lance's wrist. “A little hungry…” 

Lance looks down at his hand, then back up to the boy, then at his hand again. He sighs and retracts his hand, and the boy gives him a Look. 

“I'm not going to let you lick my hand dude, and before you say shit,” Lance points at the boy, who has his mouth open ready to object. “I know if I give you an inch you'll want a mile. So no.” 

The boy shuts his mouth and looks down, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed in a pout as he drops Lance's hand. “You don't even know me.” He mutters under his breath. 

Lance sighs again. This boy, this kind of pretty, dumb boy is making this ten times harder than it should be. “Okay, then tell me who you are.” He says. It's more or less a suggestion than a challenge. But it could be a challenge, you never know. “You're probably going to force me to go with you and kill me or something, so might as well tell me your name.”

The boy looks back up to Lance, eyes narrowed and that cute little pout still on his face. He exhales deeply though his nose. “Keith.” He says. 

It takes a second for Lance to realize that he's actually telling him his name. His brows rise slightly and he nods in understanding. “Keith.” He repeats. Keith the vampire. Outstanding. 

Keith looks around them, at the room that has undoubtedly changed at least a little since he's been locked away. For however long he's been asleep, Lance doesn't know. Probably will never know either.

“So uh,” Lance starts, his unbloodied hand going to rub the back of his neck. “What's gonna happen now?” He asks. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous for the oncoming answer. 

Keith just looks at him. Not even saying anything, just staring in thought. And if that doesn't put Lance on edge, well his next words definitely do.

“Where do you live?” He asks. And he asks it like it's a totally normal thing to ask. Lance sputters for a moment, then he regains himself and answers, “Why do you need to know that?”

“We can't stay here forever, someone's going to find us. I need a place to hide for now.” Keith explains. Great, so Lance has to hide a vampire fugitive of God knows who or what in his home. But, Lance is a good person, he guesses. 

Lance is about to answer but Keith is already speaking again. “Give me your wrist.” 

Lance recoils away from him, cradling his hands against his chest and turning away from him. “Hell no! You're gonna suck all my blood if I do.” He says, eyeing Keith carefully. 

Keith lets out an exasperated sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose, one hand going on his hip. “I won't suck your blood. Just– give me your wrist.” 

Lance pulls his hands away when Keith reaches for one. Then Keith grabs his arm and Lance shrieks, trying to pull away. Lance is unsuccessful, to say the least. Keith has his arm in a very tight grip that Lance can't get out of. He brings Lance's hand up closer to his face, and Lance thrashes and pulls his arm away, but Keith's grip is too strong. “Get off me!” Lance shouts, continuing to pull his arm away. 

Keith twists his arm, Lance winces as Keith brings his wrist to his mouth. Lance tries to squirm out of his hold, but fails before Keith sinks his teeth into the skin on his wrist. 

Lance yelps, the slight but sharp pain making him recoil and try once more to yank his arm away. But, unlike what Lance thought, Keith doesn't drink any of his blood, though he looks very tempted. Keith looks Lance dead in the eyes as he licks off the blood threatening to travel down his wrist and arm. Lance swallows as he meets Keith's eyes and pulls his arm away once it's let go. 

He looks over the bite mark left over and seethes when he applies pressure to it with his other hand. “ _Why?_ Why did you need to do that??” Lance asks. Well, more or less demands. 

“Because,” Keith answers plainly, reaching out to grab Lance again. Lance jumps backwards away from him, shaking his head furiously. “Come here.” Keith orders. 

“Hell _no!_ You're going to bite me again or something!” Lance shrieks when Keith yet again tries to grab him. 

“No, I'm not. Just come here.” Keith launches himself at Lance, who dodges and points at him. “Tell me what you're going to do first.” 

Keith stares at him with venom in his eyes. Then he just disappears in a cloud of smoke and darkness. Lance's eyes widen and he looks around frantically. He can't see him anywhere, he just, disappeared. Until he reappears behind Lance and wraps his arms around him, pinning his arms to his sides. 

Lance yelps and squirms out of Keith's hold, but before he could escape everything goes suddenly dark. 

 

– – –

 

And then it isn't. 

Then he's hitting the floor of his apartment, the sudden light hurting his eyes. Keith falls on top of him, and they just lay there for a few seconds before Keith as standing, and Lance follows suit. 

Lance is currently in both wonder that they're in his apartment and confusion as to how they even got there. It's obvious Keith can teleport or manifest himself in some way, but how did he know where Lance lives?

And when he turns to see Keith he can't help the smirk that forms on his face. Keith is in about as much awe as Lance was, but like ten times more. He looks at everything in Lance's living room like he's just found the last unicorn on earth. Then Fluffy, Lance's adorable maine coon cat, enters the room and once she sees Keith she starts hissing and growling at him. Keith's eyes go down to her instantly, and he looks like he's about four seconds away from eating her alive. 

“Hey Fluff, how's my little girl~” Lance coos, walking over to Fluffy and lifting her into his arms, holding her like a baby. Fluffy meows at him and she reaches her head up to nuzzle his cheek. He giggles and nuzzles her back. 

“Your animal has a name?” Keith asks, his head tilted to the side as he watches Lance and Fluffy. Lance raises an eyebrow at him. “Well, yeah. She's my pet.” He answers.

“Why give her a name when you're going to eventually kill her for her fur and meat anyways?” Keith asks, and _what the fuck_. 

“Kill her!? What, _no!_ Never!” Lance cries, protectively tightening his hold on Fluffy. “She's my pet, why would I do that?” 

Keith just stares at him, brows furrowed as he tries to figure things out. “So… you don't kill her?” 

Lance scoffs and pets Fluffy's head, who purrs underneath his hand. “No. Pets are like… children but animals. You don't kill them, they're your little companions.” He explains, kissing Fluffy on the top of her head. 

Realization dawns on Keith's face, his eyes widening and brows lifting in understanding, a small “oh” escaping his mouth. He looks to Fluffy and starts to lift his hand, but pauses and looks up at Lance. “Can I pet her?” He asks carefully. 

Lance gives him a nod and adjusts Fluffy in his arms. Keith slowly reaches out to touch Fluffy's head, who looks at him with wide eyes and perked ears. He stops short when she sniffs his hand, then she hisses and thwacks him with her paw. 

Keith scowls down at her and Lance laughs. “Don't feel bad dude, she just has a hard time warming up to people.” He says. He sets Fluffy down onto the floor and she retreats back into the hallway and presumably Lance's room. Keith watches her go with a frown still on his face. 

Lance sighs and puts his hands on both of his hips, then looks to Keith. “Okay, now for some real talk,” he begins, regaining Keith's attention. “If I'm going to be hiding you here, you have to tell me who you are, at least. So spill.” He says.

Keith nods and bites the inside of his cheek. “I'm a vampire, obviously. And I was sealed away in that tomb thing you found me in,” He says. Lance attempts to understand, but he has even more questions than he did before. Sealed away? Why? By who? Humans? “And I know you're wondering why I was,” yeah no shit. “My mother sealed me away, before my father died, to protect this.” 

At that, he reaches for his back pocket, and pulls out this scroll. It's actually pretty big, but small enough to fit in a back pocket apparently, and on the ends it has this small emblem showing an owl. He holds it out to Lance who takes it. He looks over it, at the emblem, and at the old paper that hasn't began to frail at all it seems even despite its ancient age. Lance goes to open it, but Keith stops him with a shake of his head, then takes it back. “What is that?” Lance asks.

“It's called an Blood Scroll.” Keith says, putting the scroll back into his pocket. “It's one of only two of its kind. It reads things like prophecies and predictions of the future and stuff. And no, you can't read it.” He says as Lance opens his mouth to ask the very question of if he can read it. 

Lance changes the subject. They'll talk about the scroll later. “Okay, big question, how did you know where I live?” He asks. This question has been bugging him since they arrived home. 

Keith has to pause and think at that, his gaze fixing onto the ground for a few seconds. “When I bit you, I may or may not have formed this kind of… 'bond’ between us.” He answers. He raises his hands in defense when he sees the mortified, concerned look on Lance's face. “It only lasts like two days, if you're concerned. Or until the bite heals. But it's kind of like… telepathic?” He answers, but the ending of his sentence is said like a question. “By that I mean, I can know what you're thinking and at any given time I can control your mind.” He explains, but the whole time he sounds slightly unsure. Like he doesn't know if that's all that happens, or like he's never done this before. 

Lance just stares at him, an unreadable expression on his face as he soaks in all this information. Keith stares back, but more uncomfortable. Eventually Lance just sighs and turns to the hallway entrance. “I'm gonna take a shower. You stay in here and don't touch anything.” He says as he rounds the corner and makes his way into the bathroom. 

Keith stands there for a second, not knowing at all what to do. After a moment he chooses to sit down on the couch to wait for Lance.

Lance turns on the shower and turns it to the warm setting. Usually he has it on cold. He's not insane, cold showers are actually better for you in several different ways. But this is a hot shower occasion. He takes off his gross, dirty old water soaked clothes and hangs them up on the shower curtain rod. He'll have to clean those another day. He gets in and does the usual routine, soaks his hair and body, washes his hair, his face, the rest of his body, and after a few minutes of just standing there and letting the water fall and processing everything he turns the water off and steps out.

He dries off and decides to just do his after-shower face routine right now instead of after getting dressed. He grabs some gauze and wraps his wrist and palm up, the one Keith bit and the one he got stabbed in. After, he opens the door and practically jumps out of his skin. Keith is standing on the other side, he looks like he was about to say something but notices Lance is only in a towel. Before Keith can even regain himself Lance is already talking. “Jesus _Christ_ Keith, what do you want?” He asks exasperatedly. 

Keith snaps out of his daze (was he staring? Probably was and Lance just didn't notice) and looks back out to the living room. “You're magic… rectangle thing is doing shit and I don't like it.” He says. 

Lance sighs, rubbing a hand down his face. He doesn't have the energy for this shit right now. He just wants to get dressed and eat and sleep. “Keith, it's just the TV calm down.” He says in a tired Done With This Fuckery™ voice. 

Keith looks back to him with an eyebrow raised, his head tilted like how it does when he's confused. “TV?”

Right. Keith doesn't know what a TV is. “I'll explain it later, just please let me get dressed.” Lance practically pleads, stepping past Keith and into his room. He shuts the door with another sigh and goes to his closet to get out a pair of sweatpants and a shirt. Fluffy meows to him from his bed as he puts his clothes on, and he can hear the faint sound of the TV playing in the living room. So, Keith found out how to turn it on while he was in the shower, apparently. He just hopes he knows how to turn it off. 

Speaking of Keith, Lance grabs a pair of clothes for him as well, because weird old clothes would draw too much attention to him if they ever decide to leave. He grabs some black, ripped jeans he hasn't worn in a while that he thinks would fit Keith, as well as a black tank top. The top is only slightly too small on him and is made for people more of Keith's size and body structure, because while Lance was tall and lean Keith was shorter and more bulky. To finish the outfit Lance picked out, he grabs a red flannel shirt he hasn't worn in ages to go over to tank top. Oh, Keith probably wants underwear too. 

Lance leaves his room, Fluffy gets off the bed and trails after him. He rounds the corner into the living room and sees Keith, sitting on the floor in front of the TV, seemingly mesmerized by whatever is playing. His mouth is agape and his eyes are wide with interest and curiosity. Lance can't help the snort that leaves his mouth, and curses himself when it makes Keith look over to him. 

“Whatcha watching?” Lance asks, setting the clothes on the arm of the couch and sitting down. Fluffy jumps up onto the couch and lays down in his lap. Keith looks back to the TV, his back completely turned to Lance. “What is this?” He asks.

“That, my friend, is television.” Lance answers, taking his phone out of his pocket. He powers it back on. 14 missed calls and 68 new messages. Shit. 

Lance opens up the gang's group chat and alerts his friends he's at home, safe and clean and unharmed. He gets several messages of relief, and a lot of Hunk lecturing him to not scare them like that again, and lots of questions that he leaves unanswered for now. Then Keith is right next to him, looking over his shoulder. Lance startles, a new habit it seems, at Keith's very sudden and very close proximity. He points to Lance's phone screen. “What is this?” 

Lance chuckles, trying to get his mind off of how fucking close Keith is. His body pressing against Lance's side and his breath fanning across the side of Lance's neck. He can smell the blood on Keith's breath, and it sends a small shiver down Lance's spine. “It's my phone.” Lance answers. He turns it off and turns it on again, showing Keith how it works. 

Keith stares at it and reaches his hand forward to grab it, but stops short and gives Lance a look, like he's asking for permission. Lance just hands it to him, and a small smile makes its way onto his face as Keith takes it and holds it in his hands. Keith presses the on button and his eyes widen. He taps the screen, Lance chuckles and inputs his password for him. 

“Sorcery…” Keith murmurs under his breath, and Lance laughs. “It's not magic dude. It's technology.” He says. He takes the phone from his hands then clicks onto the camera. He grins and wraps his arm around Keith's shoulder, then takes the picture. 

Lance looks to Keith, who's looking back at him with a very confused look. Lance chuckles and goes on the selfie he just took. “Look, see,” he shows the picture to Keith. “It's called a selfie. You know what a picture is, right?” He asks. He doesn't know how long Keith has been asleep for, or when he was put in there. Keith shakes his head. Okay, guess Lance has to explain some things to him. “Well, a picture is like a... still image of something, captured by a thing called a camera. You just saw an example of it, obviously.” 

Keith looks like he's kind of getting it, because he nods, slowly, and looks back at the picture Lance took. Then Lance gets another notification. A text from Hunk.

Hunkalicious:  
Hey dude

Hunkalicious:  
You need me to come over? You seemed a little spooked earlier when talking to us

Lance types his response quickly, Keith watching everything from over his shoulder with awe.

LanceyLance:  
Nah I'm fine

LanceyLance:  
Thx for the offer tho man

Hunkalicious:  
Ok

Hunkalicious:  
Just tell me if you need a bro to hang out with :)

LanceyLance:  
Will do 👍

Lance huffs out a breath as he sets his phone down in his lap. He looks up to Keith, who's staring at him with those wide, curious eyes. “What was that?” He asks. Damn, does this dude question everything? 

“It's called texting.” Lance answers. When Keith still looks at him confused, Lance elaborates. “It's like writing letters to people. But it's sent as messages through phones and stuff.” He explains. 

Keith nods. Lance doesn't know if he actually gets it, though. But he doesn't push it. Instead he stands up, Fluffy hopping off his lap as he does, and grabs the clothes he picked out for Keith earlier. “Okay, since we don't want people to see you dressed like you just came out of the seventeenth century, I picked out some stuff you can wear to make yourself look at least a little casual.” He says. He hands the clothes to Keith. 

Keith looks down at them, then stands up and takes his shirt off and oKAY that's not what Lance meant. 

“Wait, _nonono_ , not out here!” Lance yells, waving his hands in front of him. But Keith is already shirtless, and has already started on the belt around his waist. He looks to Lance and that goddamn confused head tilt is back. “Why not?” He asks. God this man is an idiot. 

Lance just sighs and takes Keith's wrist, gathers the clothes in one arm, and drags Keith down the hallway and into his room. He shoves the clothes into Keith's arms once they're in the room. “There. Get dressed in here and dear lord do not try to get naked in front of me again.” Lance says. 

Keith looks at him, a frown on his face as he nods. Lance nods back. “If you need anything just yell for me.” He says, then leaves the room and closes the door behind him. He leans back against the door with a tired sigh. He's been sighing a lot lately. Letting a vampire stay in his house is so far proving to be more difficult than it should be. 

He makes his way back out into the living room. He goes into the kitchen and grabs the cat food off the counter. Fluffy meows and rubs her body against the legs. Lance hums and reaches down to scratch her head. “Hungry girl?” 

Fluffy just meows again in response. Lance takes that as a yes and pours some kibble into her food bowl. After that he grabs a water bottle off the counter. He opens it, pours some into Fluffy's water bowl, then drinks some himself.

He hears Keith calling his name and groans, swallowing down all the water he just chugged. He makes his way back down the hallway and opens the door to his room. The second he sees Keith he just fucking bursts into laughter. 

Keith glares at him. “Shut the fuck up.” He hisses, but Lance can't help himself. Keith's wearing the flannel shirt and pants backwards. 

“Keith, buddy,” Lance wheezes, trying to control himself. He's unsuccessful. “Your-your pants are on backwards.” He says not-so-helpfully. 

Keith looks down, and Lance can tell that makes sense to him. He takes the pants off, not even taking a second thought to acknowledge Lance's presence. “Keith, Christ, I'm right here.” He reminds the idiot. Keith pauses and looks up sheepishly. “Oh.” He mutters, the tips of his ears red. 

“Yeah _oh_ , stop getting naked in front of me dude.” Lance says before leaving the room. Before he closes the door though, he says, “Oh yeah, your flannel shirt is on backwards too.” he tells him before leaving the room for real this time. 

Lance huffs another laugh before retreating back into the living room. It wasn't even that funny, but to see the strong, mysterious vampire in backwards pants is just hilarious to Lance. He flops ungracefully onto the couch and grabs the TV remote. He puts on Netflix, then clicks on “Pretty Little Liars”, the show he's currently catching up on. After about a minute he hears his bedroom door open slowly, and Keith makes his way out to the living room, his head hung low and eyes trained in the ground. 

At least this time he had all the clothes on the correct way. And he actually looks really good in them, and Lance is noticing now how much he looks like Marceline/Marshall Lee. Convenient. His braided hair is slung over his left shoulder, and he keeps fiddling with his jeans. “These pants are tight. I don't like them.” 

Lance laughs and stands up. “Yeah dummy they're skinny jeans. And shut up, they look good on you.” He says, flashing Keith a grin. Keith gives him a small, shy smile. Lance gives him a good look up and down, and sees he has, in fact, put everything on correctly this time. Then Lance gets an idea and runs to the bathroom. 

“Where are you going?” Keith asks behind him. Lance ignores him for now, and fishes and box of bandaids out of one of the drawers. He grabs one out of the box and turns to Keith, who's watching from the bathroom doorway. “Put this on your bite.” He indicates to the bite mark on his neck. 

Keith takes the bandaid and looks at it curiously. “What is this?” He asks. 

“It's to hide your bite.” Lance answers. He takes the bandaid from Keith, deciding he'll put it on himself. He unwraps it and moves Keith's hair out of the way, then sticks it over the bite on Keith's neck. 

Keith reaches a hand up to touch it and frowns. “This feels weird.” He says. Lance chuckles and leads him back out the bathroom. “It's a bandaid dude, calm down.” He laughs. 

He makes his way into the kitchen. He checks the time on the stove clock. Damn, it's already eight o'clock. “Hey Keith, what do you usually eat?” He asks.

Keith's answer is immediate. “People.” 

Lance almost laughs but then he realises he's probably telling the truth. “Well, you can't really have that right now. What if I go to the store and buy you some raw meat or something?” He suggests. He doesn't care what Keith usually eats, he is not letting him eat a living being, be it human or animal, he doesn't care. 

Keith considers it, then nods. “Yeah, I could eat that.” He says. “As long as it has blood, I'm good.” 

Lance nearly winces at that. That whole sentence just creeped him out. “Okay, I'll go to the store and buy some raw beef or something,” he says, grabbing and putting on his blue sweatshirt. He grabs his wallet and car keys and heads to the front door. “Stay here. And please for the love of God don't eat my cat.” He says, walking out the door and shutting it behind him. 

Lance sighs once he's out of the apartment. As he makes his way to the complex parking lot he thinks he should have put a nanny-cam or something in there to keep an eye on Keith and make sure he doesn't get into anything. Too late now, he guesses, as he gets to his car and unlocks it. 

When he's inside and starts the car, he sighs, resting his head forward on the steering wheel. He's just a poor boy who needs some rest, not a fucking vampire. He doesn't have the energy to deal with this right now. But for Keith, he'll manage.

 

– – –

 

Lance drives all the way to the supermarket. He grabs about fifteen pounds of different meats for Keith, then he gets a tub of ice-cream and a slushie for himself. 

He pays, then drives home. As he parks his car he debates walking down to the Starbucks that's right next to the complex, but he doesn't want the ice-cream to melt. Plus he already had a slushie (which he already finished on the way home. Brain freeze isn't fun while driving). He sucks it up and takes the three bags up to his apartment. 

He has to lay the bags down to grab his keys, and he fiddles with them as he unlocks the door. He turns the knob and cracks it open, then picks up the other bag and kicks the door open. “Keith, I'm– what the _FUCK._ ” 

Lance opens the door to find Keith at the dining room table, eating a _fucking dead r a t_. He screams, actually screams, and drops the groceries. 

Keith looks up at him, alarmed, and wipes off some of the blood covering his face. “What?” He asks it like he's done nothing wrong. 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EATING?!” Lance screeches, hands going up to pull at his hair. Keith glances down at the rat, then back up to Lance. “A rat?” He answers, and Lance swears to fucking god. 

“ _Dios mio estoy escondiendo un psicopático en mi casa_.” Lance mutters to himself as he pulls at his hair. He takes a deep breath to regain some of his sanity. “Keith I–stop, just please don't eat that on my fucking table, like, at least get a plate.” 

Keith looks sheepishly down at his rat he was in the middle of tearing apart. Lance can see a hint of red on his cheeks, but he has no clue whether it's from the blood or he's actually blushing. Lance thinks he'd look adorable blushing. 'Shut up’ he thinks, 'Hetero thoughts Lance. You can't be thinking gay about a vampire right now. Focus’. He shakes his head and grabs the bags of groceries. “Wow. And you couldn't even wait until I was done shopping. Congrats Keith, you have zero self control.” He says, taking the groceries and sorting them into the fridge and freezer. 

Keith pouts at him, and honesty it would be adorable if his face didn't have rat blood on it. “It's not my fault you were taking forever. I was hungry.” He attempts to defend himself. But Lance isn't falling for that bullshit. 

“I was not taking that long. You're just impatient.” Lance retorts, slamming the freezer door closed. He takes one of the things of meat he bought and puts it on the counter. He grabs a plate, because that's how you should properly eat food, _@Keith_ , and puts some of the meat on it. With a sigh he places the plate in front of Keith and points at the rat he resumed eating while Lance was getting him food. “Throw that shit out, it's disgusting.” He orders.

Keith frowns at him and places the rat on the table. “No, in the trash can. Actually, no, get it the fuck out if my house.” Lance orders again. Keith's frown deepens and he stands, the chair scraping against the floor as it's moved back. “Fine.” He says, picking the rat up off the table and going to the front door. 

Lance watches him open the door and step outside, and he curiously follows Keith to see what he's doing. He sees from the doorway Keith rear his arm back and throw the rat into oblivion. Keith's weird vampire strength made it go pretty damn far. 

“Keith, _no!_ ” Lance shouts, running outside to Keith. Keith looks back at him with an exasperated look. “What the fuck now?” He asks.

“You can't just chuck the rat out! Literally!!” Lance yells at him, throwing out his arms for dramatic effect.

“You said to get it out of the house. It's out of the house.” Keith says. Lance is about negative fifteen seconds away from strangling him. He groans and runs his hands through his hair. “Okay, fine, it's out of here. Let's just go inside and eat.”

So they do. They go inside and Keith sits back down at the table, Lance going back into the kitchen to find himself something to eat for dinner. And now it's almost nine o'clock. This night can't go by any slower, can it? He can hear Keith eating like an animal all the way from the kitchen. Lance cringes at it, and at the emptiness in his fridge when he opens it. He shuts it and checks the pantry instead. He should've gotten some take out on his way home. Fuck it, mac and cheese is easy and quick enough. 

Lance gets the crap out and fills the pot with water and does the usual routine for making mac and cheese. Once that's all good and done and he's waiting for it to cook, he goes back to the table and sees Keith devouring his food. Lance just sighs and Keith looks up with an irritated face. He puts his food down and crosses his arms angrily. “What is it this time? Am I looking at my food wrong? Am I supposed to fucking _ask it permission_ to eat it first?” He asks. Lance swears to god he's going to wring his neck. 

“No, you're not doing anything wrong, you're fine.” Lance says through clenched teeth, waving it off and taking a seat at the table. 

“Bullshit. You gave me that look. The look you give me when you're criticizing me.” Keith accuses. And okay, maybe Lance was giving him that face and judging him. But he can't be blamed when Keith's face and hands are covered in raw meat and rat blood. 

Lance runs his hands through his hair and pulls, his elbows coming to rest on the tabletop. He doesn't even bless Keith with an answer, just stares at the top of the table as he lightly pulls his hair. Keith scoffs and continues eating. 

After a few minutes Lance finishes making his mac and cheese and sits back down at the table. Keith's already done eating, so he just kind of sits there while Lance eats. 

“You know you can go sit on the couch, right?” Lance says, mouth full. 

Keith shakes his head and sits back in the chair, looking down at the table. “No. I'm fine.” He assures. 

Lance looks at the blood still staining his face and hands. “Well, you know what you should do?” He says. Keith looks back up to him and asks, “What?”

“Go wash your nasty ass face and hands.” Lance says as he shoves more mac and cheese into his mouth. Keith glares at him through narrowed eyes, then roughly stands up from his chair and angrily storms to the sink. Lance can barely hear him growl something under his breath, but chooses to ignore it to eat his dinner. 

He takes his dishes to the sink, where Keith is grumpily washing his face off with a cloth. Lance chuckles and leans past him to put the dishes in the sink, then walks over to the freezer, grabs the tub of ice-cream and a spoon, and retreats to the couch. The whole time he feels Keith's eyes on him, either glaring at him or watching him curiously, Lance doesn't know. 

He turns the TV back on and opens the tub of ice-cream. Keith kind of just stands in the kitchen, leaning over the counter to see the TV. Lance chuckles, and Keith looks to him, startled that he'd been noticed. “You can come on the couch, dude, it's fine.” Lance pats the spot next to him. 

Keith slowly makes his way over to the couch. He's stiff and unsure, Lance can tell. When he finally plops down right next to Lance, Lance offers him a bite of ice-cream. “Want some? It's ice-cream.” He asks. 

Keith eyes the spoon for a few seconds before actually grabbing it and taking a bite. The look on Keith's face is adorable, in Lance's opinion, as his eyes widen and light up. Lance can't help but grin as he takes the spoon back. “Good right?”

Keith nods and reaches to take the spoon out of Lance's hand again. Lance hands it to him and turns back to the TV. “What are you watching?” Keith asks from next to him with his mouth full of ice-cream. Lance slouches down into the couch with a sigh, Keith leaning over to get another spoonful of ice-cream. 

“It's a show called Friends. It's a little funny. And it's popular.” Lance answers. He was watching "Pretty Little Liars" at first but decided that's a show for him to watch on his own, not with a vampire dude he barely knows. Keith moves closer to Lance as he watches the show intently, their thighs rubbing together as Keith steals some more ice-cream. Lance likes "Friends" because it's pretty easy to understand. You don't really have to pay attention, you can just listen and you'll know what's going on. Not much actual watching has to be done. Also because this one chick at a coffee shop he went to recommended it so he decided to give it a try.

“What's going on?” Keith says. And scratch the last part, you have to watch the show to know what's happening, especially when you start over three seasons in. So Lance prepares his Oscar worthy explanation of what's currently happening. “You see those two right there arguing?” He points to the screen. “That's Ross and Rachel. They were dating for a bit but they had to take a break because of relationship issues I guess. But while they were on their break Ross had sex with another girl, and he just told Rachel about it and she's mad.” He says. 

Keith nods, he seems to be getting the gist of it at least. He points at the screen to the four others with the spoon. “What are they doing?” He asks. Lance huffs a chuckle at something that happened on screen, and goes into explanation mode. “They're listening to Rachel and Ross's conversation from behind the door of the other room.” He answers, and Keith nods again. 

Forty minutes go by of them watching the show together, eating ice-cream and Keith asking questions often. After a while of watching the show Lance has explanations ready, just in case, but no questions come. He thinks Keith finally just lets it be and tries to figure things out on his own. Until he feels something heavy land on his shoulder. Lance looks down to find Keith had fallen asleep next to him, and his head rests on his shoulder. Lance suppresses a smile, though he doesn't know why he feels the need to do that. 

He watches TV and eats ice-cream alone for a while, until he feels his own eyes grow heavy and sleep overcome him. He drifts off, the ice-cream and TV long forgotten. 

 

– – –

 

Lance wakes up slowly and takes in his surroundings. His neck is killing him, and Keith's asleep with his head on Lance's shoulder and curled up into his side. Lance's cheek rests on top of his head. It's still late, too. Lance reaches for his phone in his pocket, careful not to wake Keith. He checks the time, it's past one o'clock. He sighs, not mindful of Keith right next to him. The TV is still playing so Lance turns it off. He sits there for a few moments, contemplating what he should do.

He could leave the couch and go to his own room to sleep, but that might risk Keith waking up. Then again, that might not be a problem because Keith is out cold. Plus, if Lance does go back into his room, he won't risk back or neck problems for the both of them if he moves Keith to lay down. And he can't help the small amount of dread at the idea of cuddling with a vampire he's secretly harboring in his house. Also he hasn't done his nightly face-care routine. 

Lance makes up his mind and very carefully maneuvers himself out of under Keith. He puts Keith down across the couch, hoping to god he won't wake him. Looking over the sleeping vampire, he grabs the blanket off the back of the couch and drapes it over him. When that's done he silently makes his way into the bathroom, does his face-care, and finally heads off into his room. 

He flops as gracefully as a swan onto his bed and pulls the sheets up to his chin, burrowing himself into his bedding to keep out the cold night air. Lance lets out a relaxed sigh as he closes his eyes again. 

Then, almost immediately after, he hears the familiar creak of his door being pushed open. He opens his eyes, but his back is turned towards the door so he can't see anyways. He assumes it's probably just Fluffy coming in to lay down with him like she does most nights. 

“Lance…?” Ah, there it is. It isn't Fluffy, that's for sure. Lance forces himself to keep the groan threatening to escape his mouth down. Instead he rolls over and sends Keith a glare. 

“What?” He asks tiredly. Keith's head is down and his hand is on the doorknob. He looks shy, sheepish even, and there's a small blush on his cheeks, maybe from embarrassment.

Keith swallows, still not looking up at Lance. “Can I sleep in here?” He asks in a low whisper quiet enough that Lance could barely hear him.

God, he's like a three year old child. 

Lance sighs and moves over to make room for him. “Fine. Get in here.” He says. Keith seems to perk up at that, lifting his head up and going to the bed. He curls up into the sheets next to Lance, and that's also when Lance realises he didn't give Keith any pajamas to wear. Oh well, a little too late now. 

Lance rolls back over to face the opposite direction as Keith. They lay in silence for a while, Lance on his side and Keith laying on his back, until Keith breaks the silence. “Lance?”

Lance just really really wants to fall asleep at this point. He grunts in response. 

“Thank you.” Keith whispers. He doesn't elaborate, and Lance takes a few seconds to reply. 

“No problem.” Lance whispers back. They both close their eyes and finally let themselves drift off into peaceful sleep.

 

– – –

 

Except Lance's sleep isn't as peaceful as he'd like. 

 

– – –

 

_It starts out odd. In a terrifying way. Lance is in a room, made of ancient stone that's wearing down before him. Staircases leading to balconies on the left and right walls. But the weirdest thing is the alter. The alter, pouring endless amounts of blood in the back of the room. One of those rooms that would be separate but there's to wall to separate it. The light from the windows are pure red._

 _Then the blood from the alter comes streaming out, flooding the room at an alarmingly fast rate. Blood reaches Lance's shoes, and he tries turning around, tries to escape, but he can't move. Blood fills the room to his knees, quickly filling up to go up his thighs. Something touches his shoulder, and he whirls around. All that greets him is a black void and low laughter belonging to someone he doesn't recognize. Lance turns back around. Nothing but darkness. The room is gone, along with the alter and blood. He can move again, so he walks forward until something comes into view._

_He walks and walks and walks until he thinks he sees something. Scratch that, it's a person_. 

_Lance gets closer, and he can see who it is now. It's Keith, crouched down to the floor with his back turned to Lance. Lance is almost relieved, until he gets closer and sees that Keith holding something in his hands and tears are falling from his eyes._

_“Keith?” Lance asks carefully, his voice shaky and tone soft. He steps closer to Keith with his hand held out_.

 _“They're dead.” Keith says, loud and clear enough to have Lance stopping dead in his tracks and retracting his hand. “They're dead_. _You killed them.” His tone is harsh, unforgiving. It cracks when he speaks._

_“I didn't… what?” Lance is so confused right now. But even more concerned. Keith's fist clenched around the handle of whatever it was in his hands. And then Lance knew what it was he was holding. A knife._

_Before Lance could even react Keith was up and throwing himself at him. He and Lance fell to the ground, and Lance braced himself when Keith tried to stab him right between the eyes. Lance held Keith's hand with both of his to try and stop the knife from making contact with him, but Keith used his other hand to push the knife against Lance's own force_. 

“You fucking did this!” _Keith screams it, and Lance notices how broken he looks. Tears pouring out of his eyes, bruises and scratches covering the revealed skin on his arms and his face. His eyes aren't their usual purple-grey, they're fully encompassed in blood red. Lance wonders what happened to him._

 _Lance kicks Keith off of him and tries to scramble away. The knife falls from Keith's hand and he gets back up with a growl. He launches himself at Lance's legs before he can even stand. Lance falls back down with a grunt and he turns over to kick Keith off him again. But Keith's already there, straddling Lance's waist as his hands go to Lance's throat_. 

_Lance can't breathe. He tries to kick Keith off but is unsuccessful. His hands go to Keith's wrists, trying to pry his hands off his throat to let some air in. Claws dig into the back of his neck and throat. Lance can feel the blood trailing down his neck._

_He tries so hard to get Keith off him. Tries to breathe, chokes and gasps for breath. He doesn't want this._

_“You're the monster,” Keith growls. “Not me.”_

_Lance's heart breaks, his stomach plummets. It's been broken the moment Keith accused him for doing such things. He thought he'd gained Keith's trust, that he could trust Keith too. Lance doesn't know what's happening, why it's happening. He reminds himself it's just a dream, just a dream._

_But if it's a dream, why does it feel so real? Why does it feel so real as his vision grows fuzzy? Why does the emotional and physical pain feel so real? Why does Keith look so real? Why, when he closes his eyes and let's the darkness overcome him, does it all feel so incredibly real?_

_But it's just a dream. Right?_

 

– – –

 

Lance's eyes snap open as he wakes up, gasping for breath and shaking. He's back in his bed, light streaming through the blinds in his room. Something's off, though. And that's when he notices the arms wrapped loosely around his torso and the nose buried in between his shoulder blades. 

Ah. Keith's spooning him. That's… a little alarming, concerning what just happened in his dream. 

He feels Keith's breath against his back as Keith nuzzles himself closer. Warmth spreads through Lance's face and body at the movement. He swallows and chances a glance over his shoulder at Keith. He's still sleeping and his body is pressed flush against Lance. 

Lance doesn't move. Doesn't want to wake Keith up. He shifts his legs only slightly, but it has Keith groaning and tightening his hold around Lance's torso, and pushing his knee between Lance's thighs to make them closer. 

Lance's cheeks and neck turn red. He stays frozen to not stir Keith any more. 

“Keith?” He whispers. He wants to know for sure that he's asleep. When Keith doesn't answer, Lance isn't surprised. Judging by the light from the blinds it isn't that relatively early. Probably 9-ish.

Keith does stir, though, and Lance feels him stiffen against him and freeze. He can feel Keith's fast heartbeat against his back. Guess he woke up.

Keith doesn't pull away though, he just holds Lance in his arms stiffly.

“Good morning.“ Lance says. Keith whispers something Lance can't hear even despite their very close proximity. “You uh, hah, you comfy back there?” Lance asks with a small smile. 

Keith gives a very minute nod and relaxes his hold on Lance a little. Lance snorts and rolls over in Keith arms to face him. He wraps his arms around Keith and gives him a big squeeze. Lance was always a cuddler anyways, so he isn't bothered at all.

It's also nice to have Keith there, right next to him. Especially after what just went on in his bizarre dream. He squeezes Keith again for more physical proof he isn't trying to kill Lance.

“You're a good cuddler, you know that?” Lance tells him. Keith tries to reply, but Lance cuts him off with a hush and strokes Keith's hair. His hair is very soft, Lance notices. “Silence, let's just enjoy this for a little longer till we wake up.” Lance says when Keith attempts to speak again. Keith sighs into his chest and nuzzles into him. Both boys are exhausted, longing for more sleep after how late they stayed up last night. 

They lay like that for a good hour at least. Lance wasn't counting. 

Eventually they had to get up, so they get out of bed and go into the living room. Fluffy, who was sleeping in her bed on the floor the whole night, followed them out of the room. 

Lance yawns and stretches his arms out once he makes it into the kitchen. “Keith, what do you usually have for breakfast?” He asks. 

“Uh–” 

“Too bad, were having waffles.” Lance is already getting the box of Eggo waffles and a toaster out of the cupboard. As Lance sets up Keith goes to sit at the table. Lance gets busy with making breakfast while Keith stares forlornly at the table. 

Lance opens his mouth to say something, but stops when he notices Keith. Keith's head is lowered, gaze fixed firmly on the table. He looks far-off, lost in thought. Lance clears his throat and Keith looks up. 

“Hey, uh, did you know vampires are pale because they're anemic?” Lance says as a start for a conversation. Not a very good start, per se, but a start nonetheless. 

Keith lifts a brow and tilts his head. Lance can't get over how cute it is. “What does that mean?” He asks. Oh right, Keith is mentally only three years old. 

“It means you don't have enough blood.” Lance explains. Keith nods, to Lance's relief, and he looks straight back down at the table again. Lance frowns. So much for conversation. 

Lance shrugs it off and goes to check the waffles after a few minutes of awkward silence. He takes the two that just got done and puts them on a plate, grabbing silverware and syrup. 

He gives Keith the waffles with syrup on it and points to the silverware. “No hands. Use your fork and knife this time.” He orders.

Keith scowls at him as he eats, and Lance goes back into the kitchen to make another two for himself. 

As breakfast goes on, the two don't really talk much. Lance would say something in attempt to start conversation but Keith would always answer with no more than two words, and it would be back to silence. The whole thing was very awkward, to say the least.

Lance is tired of it. Eventually he speaks up, nice and loud, to get Keith's attention. “Keith.” 

Keith doesn't look up, doesn't even take notice. Lance internally groans and tries again, much louder and insistent, “ _Keith_.”

This gets him to finally he look up and meet Lance's eyes. “What.” He snaps. It's harsher than Lance expected. Honestly, Lance didn't expect any harshness. 

Lance just sighs. “Something's up, dude. I don't know if you're just being more edgy than usual today or something is actually wrong. So spill.” Lance isn't suggesting Keith talk to him, but he isn't forcing him. He just thinks that if Keith is going to act salty towards him Lance should know why. 

So when Keith is silent, Lance isn't really surprised. “Why do I even bother,” he sighs and stands up to go to the couch, Fluffy rubbing against his legs as she follows him.

“I need to go back.” Keith's silent response has Lance stopping in his tracks. He slowly turns back to face him, his brows furrowed as he fixes the vampire boy with a quizzical stare. “What?” He asks. 

Keith is quiet for another few seconds, his arms coming up to cross against the chest. He bites his bottom lip. “To the other vampires. I need to go back.” Again, he says it quietly. 

Lance is a little shocked, actually. Well, he expected Keith would need to go back to them eventually, but he's even more shocked that he thinks they're alive. 

“Keith. I don't think they're still alive.” Lance mutters to him, almost whispers. Keith shakes his head. 

“They are. I know they are. They live in secret, no one could ever find them without a vampire's help.” He says. 

Lance nods. It would make sense, them living in a secluded place only they can enter. But things have changed during the time Keith has been sealed away. “Okay. I understand.” He says. Fluffy meows for attention from beside him so he picks her up. He needs someone to hold onto right now.

“But…” Keith trails off and Lance can see him biting his lip. The stark white of his fangs a huge contrast to his full, pink lips. 

And damn, he was actually just staring at Keith's lips.

He lets Keith take his times to speak, until he finally huffs a breath and continues. “I want you to come with me.”

It takes Lance by so much surprise that his jaw drops and his lips slightly part. He nearly drops Fluffy to the floor until he remembers she's still in his arms. 

“You– ah… huh?” Lance stutters, unable to form comprehensible words. He couldn't have heard correctly. Why in any reality would Keith want Lance to go with him? 

Well, now that Lance thinks about it, it makes a little sense. When thinking about literally everything that just happened. Why Keith is even still here right now and didn't go back even though he was sure they were all still alive and knew where the still lived. But that doesn't explain why he is here, though, or why he wants Lance to go. Still, something to take notice to. 

Keith never answers Lance. He just sits there with his head down and a blush tainting his cheeks. And it's fucking adorable but Lance is still getting his crap together so he can't think about it much. But he thinks about it a little bit. 

So Lance takes his time figuring things out. Soon he has regained his sanity and is petting Fluffy's head, scratching behind her ears. 

He sighs and his hold around Fluffy tightens almost instinctively. “Keith. I would, like to go with you but… I can't just leave my whole life behind,” he says softly. He sees Keith is about to say something, but he continues, “I mean, I just met you yesterday and everything. So it would be… a little weird, don't you think?” 

Keith shuts his mouth again, his jaw clenching. Lance can practically see the gears turning in his head. He knows Lance is right, and is trying to find a way to retort, to argue. 

Then he speaks again. “You're the only one who gave me a chance.” He mutters very quietly. It isn't an argument, and it isn't only something he's saying just to convince Lance. He's opening up to him.

A few seconds pass of silence. Lance stands in both shock and confusion of what he means. He wants to say something that wills Keith to keep talking, to let these things out, but he can't do that. He can't make Keith open up to him.

But then he continues anyways. 

“Back at home, I only really had my brother and mom.” A pause and a deep, shaky breath. “She's… gone now. And I don't even _know_ about my brother.” 

Another moment of silence. Lance doesn't know what to say. And by the looks of it, Keith doesn't know either. Lance is sure Keith is hiding something from him, that he's only telling Lance the things he needs to know. 

The thing that really sucks is that Lance would go with him. Secret vampire base that no one else has ever seen or can get into? Hell yeah, that sounds awesome. But Lance has a life here. He can't throw all of that away. He can't throw his friends and college life away, he's worked and is still working hard to maintain everything he has. 

But maybe he can come back to this. He isn't a vampire, they won't let him stay forever unless he is turned into one, and he doesn't really feel like becoming one at the moment. 

So the idea is what wills him to put Fluffy down and walk over to Keith. Lance pulls him up from the chair and wraps his arms around him in a hug. Keith is super fucking confused when it happens, so he kind of just stands there awkwardly with his arms at his side's. 

“I'll go with you, Keith,” Lance whispers into Keith's hair, giving him a small and reassuring squeeze. “But I can't stay forever.” Lance weaves his hand through Keith's hair, the other resting on Keith's back, as Lance cradles Keith's head against his chest.

Keith seems like he understands, because Lance thinks he felt him nod and lift his arms up to hug Lance back. Lance can still feel the tension and unease in Keith's shoulders slowly eb away.

Keith mutters a silent “okay” and they stay hugging for another few moments before letting each other go. 

“Now let's go.” Keith says abruptly.

“Wait, now?” Lance asks. Because he wasn't expecting them to just instantly leave after he agrees to go in the first place. 

But according to Keith: “Yes! We need to get back there as soon as possible.” As he says that he grabs the weird scroll thing he was locked away with from the table. “I need to get this to my brother, soon. He'll know what to do with it from there,” and he adds a silent “hopefully…” at the end. 

But Lance can't handle this right now. He brings his hands up to his face and rubs his temples with his fingers, attempting to understand Keith's absurdity. “Keith, we can't just–”

“We'll come back here later. First we need to sort this all out.” Keith cuts him off before Lance can voice his own reasoning. He's impatient, Lance can tell.

“So are you with me in this, or not?” Keith holds his hand out to Lance expectantly.

Lance stares at it. First of all, he doesn't even know what they are going to sort out in the first place. It's probably something to do with that weird scroll (Blood Scroll, right? Is that what Keith said it is?) and why Keith was sealed away with it. 

But Lance needs an explanation, and soon or else his mind is going to blow the fuck up. 

So he looks Keith in the eyes and takes his hand in a firm grip. He nods, his heart rate thinking now is a perfect time to speed up. 

“Let's go then.”

It's a deal. It's a promise that the shit that goes down from now on, he's in on it as well. He doesn't know what's going to happen. He thinks he's prepared for the inevitable. But he isn't. He's far from prepared.

This is where the shit goes down. And he isn't prepared. 

 

– – –

 

Keith at least let's Lance get ready for the day, because he refuses to go out anywhere in a pajama shirt and sweatpants (not counting when he went to the store because it's just the fucking store so it doesn't count). 

So Lance does get ready. He purposefully takes his time doing it, not to get on Keith's nerves but because his mind and body are freaking the hell out. He uses getting ready as a distraction to get his mind off possibly getting eaten.

Least to say, he wants a chance to look good for meeting the oh-so-scary vampires. 

When he's finally all ready and comes into the living room, Keith immediately approaches him, the Blood Scroll thingy sticking out of his back pocket, and takes both of Lance's hands in his. 

“Are you ready?” Keith asks. The question is shy, concerned, like he may have noticed how nervous Lance feels. He asks it so Lance has one more chance to refuse, to let him know he doesn't have to go if he doesn't want to. 

But Lance nods, short and tense, and Keith nods back in affirmation. 

“Alright then.” He mutters. The hands around Lance's tighten. 

Keith doesn't give him any other warning before everything is shrouded in darkness.

 

– – – 

 

They appear in front of this giant castle, sitting on a desolate island, and the first thing that Lance registers is COLD. 

It is absolutely fucking freezing. They arrived in front of the bridge that leads up to the castle's entrance, a beach right behind them that seems to go on for eternity, no other body of land in sight. It's snowing too, and it adds onto the eerie vibe the whole place gives off. 

But it's fucking FREEZING.

“Holy shit!” Lance cries, his arms crossing over his chest with his hands on both of his arms. “It's fucking cold here!”

He didn't put his jacket on before leaving either. Now he wishes he had.

“Sorry.” Keith says, though he does not look sorry in the slightest. His gaze is fixed firmly on the castle, not even taking notice to Lance or being affected at all by the cold. Until Lance sees him shaking slightly. But he knows it isn't because Keith's cold. Can tell it's from unease, anxiety, anticipation, by the way he looks at the castle.

Keith is worried. And it makes Lance start to worry too.

“Let's get going.” Keith says, not even looking to Lance as he walks to the foot of the bridge. 

Lance tries to smother his anxiety down and follow Keith up over the bridge. He resorts to looking at the castle looming over them, the ominous way it seems to beckon them to it. 

There's a gate in in front of the entrance with a guardsman standing idly by next to it. Once he notices Keith, however, his demeanor instantly changes and he alerts the gate watcher to open it up. 

Lance and Keith pass him, and he bows to Keith as they do. Lance watches curiously. Keith must be of some importance here. 

They open the doors and enter, the doors slamming shut behind them once they're inside. Behind the doors is a room, then an archway to the staircases leading down into the great hall of the castle. Keith stops once they're inside the room, Lance can see the tension in his shoulders as he stares at the doorway leading to his old home. 

Someone enters, looking a little angry, but he stops once he sees Keith. “P-Prince Keith!” He exclaims with a slight hush to his voice. He's trying to stay quiet and not reveal to the other inhabitants of the castle of their presence. “You're–You’re back! After all this time, we… Everyone thought you were dead.”

Keith shrugs, but Lance can just barely notice the slight quirk of his lips. “I'm here now, aren't I?” He says, and the man huffs, slightly amused. 

“I suppose that's true. But,” he starts, giving Lance a suspicious glance before looking back to Keith. “This may have not been a great time to return. Especially with… company.” 

The statement makes Lance's blood run cold, the color draining from his face. See, he knew this was a bad idea. He fucking knew it. But he was a dumbass and did it anyways. 

Keith seems to strike that as odd, because it has his brows furrowing and his lips curving downward. “Why?” He asks.

The man is quiet, and can see Keith growing impatient. “Ulaz. Answer me. What's going on.” It's not a question, not a suggestion or request. He's demanding to know what's happening. 

The man, Ulaz, sighs. “With you gone things have been different. I think I'd better explain this–” he gives Lance another look. “Sometime else. Not here. Not now.” Then he's walking away, pausing to beckon them through the archway. 

They follow, Lance hesitantly and Keith determinately. Ulaz stops them at the balcony leading down to the great hall. At the bottom there are two tables facing a big fireplace, each lined with foods that Lance doesn't want to look at. Because hint: it isn't food… Necessarily. At the front of the room is a throne, below a second balcony, and someone sitting there looking bored. Someone stands next to him with his hands behind his back, whispering things to the man in the throne.

“Everyone!” Ulaz announces, effectively gaining everyone's attention and startling Lance. The man in the throne instantly perks up with amusement, like he finally has something to do. “The prince has returned!”

There's murmurs going around the room, all ranging from excited, to confused, to curious, and to worried. And Lance… Lance is confused too. Keith never told him he was a prince of anything.

Then the man on the throne stands, holding his arms out and demanding silence. The person standing next to him looks unfazed, in a creepy way, standing completely still and staring at nothing with empty eyes. 

“Keith.” He begins, a grin growing on his face. “It is good to see you again.” 

Keith shoves past Lance and Ulaz, storming down the stairs with his fists curled at his sides. “Where's Shiro.” He demands angrily. 

The man's grin falters and he lets out a soft and forced chuckle. The other man who was previously in some trance or something comes up next to him and whispers something into his ear. The man nods, looking back to Keith. “He's… not here right now.”

“Where is he.” Keith demands again. Lance can see him practically shaking with anger. Something's wrong. Something isn't how it should be. Ulaz starts down the stairs, and Lance, not wanting to be lonely, follows behind him. 

The man sighs, his shoulders dropping and head bowing. “I would prefer to speak of this another time.” He says, and his tone changes to welcoming to dark drastically. 

The man himself doesn't seem scary, other than how he's probably a head taller than Lance. His skin is a dark brown, and his long, silver hair a beautiful contrast against it. The longer Lance looks at him the more he's reminded of Allura.

The other man is big and bulky, right eye missing and fluffy purple hair. He looks like he can snap Keith like a twig. A little taller than the probable leader, but only by a few inches. He only has one arm, the other replaced not with a prosthetic, but made with some kind of magic, if the way it's transparent and purple says anything about it. Something about him throws Lance off, unsettles him. 

Keith still looks pissed, and he steps up to the man, getting right in his face. The man doesn't look phased in the slightest, and completely towers over Keith. “You better fucking explain yourself after this, then.” He says. 

The man just smiles and nods. “I assure you, your highness, that everything will be explained soon enough.” He says. 

It seems to satisfy Keith, so with another glare he steps away from him. They both turn to Lance, as well as everyone else in the room, and he freezes on the spot. “You there,” the man says. 

Lance glances around the room, all eyes are on him, and he looks back to the man. “Come here. I'm pretty sure it's time Keith introduced you to us.” 

Lance swallows thickly and slowly steps forward. When he's in front of the man he stops. 

“My name is Lotor, the lord of the most powerful vampires in the world. This,” He motions to the other man. “Is Sendak, my second in command.” He says. Lance can see Keith stiffen out of the corner of his eye. He can also see the glare thrown at the man, Lotor, and the clenching of his fists. 

Lance assumes he should probably introduce himself back. “I'm, uh– the name's Lance.” He says, cursing the nervous waiver of his voice. 

Lotor nods with a smile, seemingly unaware of the anxiety Lance is suffering through. “Lance. It's nice to meet you.” He says. 

“Uh… likewise.”

“So enough introduction,” Lotor looks to Keith as does Sendak, and Keith glares back before looking back to Lance. “You, a mere mortal, have rescued Keith from isolation, and with him something that has been snatched from our grasp for centuries.” 

Keith shifts uncomfortably, his arm moving behind him to hide the scroll from view. Must be what Lotor is talking about. What else would it be?

“In my opinion, you deserve a reward for your efforts.” 

Lance's eyes widen at that. Reward? That actually sounds pretty cool. Depending on what it is of course. He opens his mouth to speak but is cut off before he is able to.

Sendak's back straightens, then he's whispering something else in Lotor's ear. And Lance doesn't miss the way something flashes in Lotor's eyes. Not an emotion, just… something isn't normal with either of them. 

“There is only one thing I can offer you that is equal to what you have done for us.” Lotor says, and a grin slowly grows across his face. It really rubs Lance the wrong way. 

Lotor holds his hands out to Lance, dark and shadowy magic dancing off his fingertips that seem to beckon Lance towards him. “My blood.”

Lance's gaze snaps up to Lotor's, his eyes wide with the realisation of what exactly Lotor means. 

He wants Lance to become a vampire.

“But… what if I don't want to?” Lance asks, slowly, cautiously. It has Lotor's grin falling into a scowl that has shivers running down Lance's spine. 

“Then you will be banished here for the rest of time. You will be prey amongst predator. And you will forever live in fear knowing that you will be among those who are hunted down and weak,” Lotor says the dark magic fully enveloping his hands and snaking up past his wrists and forearms. 

Lance gulps, his palms becoming sweaty as he stares forward with a loss of what to do. Does he take the offer? He doesn't want to. He doesn't want to be a vampire and say goodbye to his friends and family and life. His fists clench and unclench, the debate in his mind growing more and more heated. Keith notices his discomfort but is at a loss of what to do. He can't interfere, this is Lance's battle to fight.

Eventually Lance stops. He looks up, face set in a looking determination and finality. 

“I refuse your offer.” He says, trying sound confident but ultimately failing. His voice shook as he says it, and his determined demeanor falls when Lotor looks at him with disgust. 

“So be it.” Lotor hisses. He looks at either side of Lance, and he's confused about it until two vampires grab his arms. 

Lance screams, thrashing in the two vampire's hold. They grip his shoulders and arms, so he can't use them in his defence. Lance resorts to kicking their legs instead. Keith tries running over to help him, but Sendak wraps his arm around Keith's waist to stop him from going anywhere. 

“Lotor! Stop this!” Keith screams, using his vampire strength to try and free himself from Sendak's hold. Lotor ignores him and steps closer to the struggling Lance. “Show the ex-prince to his room.” Lotor commands. 

Sendak uses his hold around Keith's waist to lift him up and over his shoulder, turning away from the scene and starting to leave. “Get _off_ – Lance!” He shouts. 

Lance doesn't know what to do. He's trapped, even if he does escape the vampire's holds there are several others to get him. Plus, it's not like he can fly home from the island, or even know where he is. 

For now, Lance is trapped. He has nowhere to go. No chance of escape. 

Lotor steps up to Lance until he's only several inches away. Lance can only stare up at him with terror, eyes wide and trying futilely to get away from him. The vampires hold on tight to his arms, pinning him in place. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Keith thrashing and being carried away, his cries echoing in Lance's brain.

Lotor grabs Lance's jaw and forces his face up to look Lotor in the eyes. Lance tries to turn his head away but Lotor just tightens his grip, making Lance wince. 

“You are banished from this place, never to come here again, until the end of time,” Lotor says. He has pure murder in his eyes, Lance doesn't know what he's going to do but he doubts it's anything good. 

Keith's cries fade away as Lance can feel the darkness overcome him. He's no longer able to see, to feel, to hear. It's terrifying. 

 

– – –

 

Then he's waking up on the floor of his living room, a worried “meow” sounding next to him. Lance opens his eyes to see Fluffy standing next to him, sniffing his face. Her nose tickles his cheek and he sits up with a groan. 

“Hey girl,” He mutters, patting her head to reassure her he's okay. Fluffy seems satisfied enough with that so she crawls onto his lap and lays down there. 

Lance chuckles and picks her up into his arms as he stands. He collapses backwards onto the couch with her still in his arms. She doesn't like it but stays laying with him anyways. 

He doesn't really want to ponder on everything that happened. Doesn't want to think about Keith struggling in the arms of whoever the hell that even is. Lance doesn't want to think about the fear he had waiting to see what was going to happen to him, if he was going to die. 

For some reason he especially doesn't want to think of the guilt he feels for leaving Keith alone there, even though he knows Keith isn't alone. There are other people there in the castle with him. Lance doesn't trust them, though, to take care of Keith.

Lance knows, whatever happened to his family, that Keith needs someone there to help him through it or to simply be a friend. But Lance remembers Keith's words. “ _Back at home, I only really had my brother and mom_ ” he had said, “ _she's… gone now. And I don't even know about my brother_ ”. 

Lance stops thinking about it. It's done. It's all over. Keith is gone, not his problem anymore. Lance can rest knowing Keith is home where he wanted to be in the first place. 

But… that doesn't stop him from being at least a little bothered by it. What can he do, anyways? It doesn't matter anymore. Not to him. 

Lance strokes Fluffy's back, the cat purring and nuzzling closer to him in response. He smiles down at her and rests his head back on the arm of the couch. Fluffy may only be a cat, but she can sure as hell be there for emotional support.

Lance lays there petting his cat for what feels to him like hours but, in all honesty, might have just been a few minutes. He sighs to himself, closing his eyes in an attempt to stop the hurricane of bad thoughts from causing any more damage. Maybe all he needs is sleep. He does feel pretty tired after all that has happened. 

He scowls, eyes still closed, and scratches behind Fluffy's ears. Sleep might not be a good idea after all that has happened today. Especially since the last time he slept he had a very disturbing dream he doesn't really want to remember. 

But you know what? Fuck it. Sleep is for the tired. And Lance is Tired. 

So he does. He closes his eyes and drifts off into sleep, lulled by Fluffy's soft purrs as he scratches her head.

**Author's Note:**

> Holy shit guys, in one night this actually got some attention that I had no clue it would be getting. This kinda blows my mind actually like wow, thank you so much for liking and commenting on it! If I do anything wrong (like anything. It can be about plot, character, inconsistencies, formatting, etc.) I encourage you to tell me because I really want to get this right. Anyways, thank you so much for reading this and giving me a chance, and I hope that you stay here till the end! 💖


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